Straight to business: Here we are with an absolute stunner in this series. Are you bored with me telling you this? It shows the people at P&S are on the right track and they are Tweeting these reviews and putting them on their Facebook page nowadays so they are clearly happy. I am chuffed because I get to see fantastic books like this one.
Michael Green’s book is, from first to last, a classic of its kind. The text is concise and easy to follow. The picture selection and quality of the captions is inspired. If you love tanks you must buy this book. Simple as. I’m not sure there is any point in saying any more in support of it. What I can do is point you towards the excellent sections on Vietnam and the wonderful way the book progresses from the Pershing through the development stages of the M40 right through to the M48 we know so well. There is an excellent section on the tank in foreign use and the book finishes with a look at the specialist variants such as tank recovery types, bridge layers, self-propelled guns etc.
There is a lot to look at and much to learn.
To my mind this is an unusual subject to place in the Images of War series because in real terms this is a legitimate subject for a book in its own right. In the last week I have received a couple of lavish hard backed books on naval subjects which come in at a pretty penny and Michael Green’s work is more than equal to them. But, the publishers know their business and I can imagine the conflict in the meeting where the team decides how to pitch a book like this. Perhaps the people who buy books on warships are prepared to dig deeper than those who shell out on those about tanks? It’s an interesting question and I’d love to know the answer.
Meantime, I am looking forward to more books from Michael Green, so get your skates on P&S.
Mark Barnes
IMAGES OF WAR
THE PATTON TANK
COLD WAR WARRIOR
By Michael Green
Published in softback by Pen & Sword Military £14.99
ISBN: 978 1 84884 7 613